is there actually any significant degradation when you use the laser to read, or is the power level so much lower that there's really just not enough energy to cause it?
No. There is some degredation of the dye with exposure to light, but with a low-power reading laser, it's so extremely small as to be negligable.
There's much more energy in a few seconds of exposure to sunlight than in numerous full reads of a CD-R.
My burned CDs from 5 years ago are quite deteriorated, and the new CDRs I buy are of even shoddier quality.
THEN STOP BUYING 5 CENT CDRs.
I have a handful of 12 year-old CD-Rs that are still working just fine today, and hundreds of discs that are just a couple years newer and only 1% have EVER developed read-errors, and then they were always recoverable and a new copy was quickly made (though I do have secondary backups anyhow).
It's time to put laser media to rest and start using something more resilient.
Like what?
It's all well and good to say something has problems, but unless you've got something better to offer, it's just a lot of whining and complaining.
Anyway, the REAL problem with optical disc durability is that the top layer is vulnerable.
No. DVDs put the reflective "top" layer between two layers of plastic in the exact center of the disc, so you have to break it in half to even get to the reflective layer.
I just had to throw about five discs away because their metal layer stuck to my CD binder and peeled off...
You're just using extremely cheap crap CD-Rs. If you spend a fraction more, you'll find all the better ones have a nice thick layer on top to protect the reflective layer.
There are two things, which I can't understand why nobody is doing yet.
First is ducting. I've done this myself in a very small server room. If you have a pair of ducts connected to the air intakes of each machine, and a couple connected to the output of the exhaust fans, you can keep a system significantly cooler, with significantly less cooling, since the cold and hot air is being forced to the exact spots where you need it, and not being allowed to mix AT ALL. For each system, you're only talking perhaps $2 in one-time additional expense per server, which quickly pays for itself.
The other obvious option is geothermal cooling systems. If you're located near a river, lake, pond, ocean, etc., it's really trivially easy, and practically free, to utilize that to dramatically lower the energy demands from cooling (or heating for that matter). And even if that's not the case, it doesn't cost all that much to have numerous geothermal lines run into the ground.
You can probably maintain most of the HVAC systems you already have, only replacing the condenser units to fit the change to geothermal.
So, if there's something wrong with this idea, spell it out. Why aren't datacenters already taking these simple steps?
I've seen estimates that show the possibility of up to a 35% reduction in power and A/C costs simply by converting the AC power supplies in servers to DC power supplies.
...only if they compare them to old, extremely ineffecient AC power supplies. The newer 80%+ effecient units from Seasonic and others completely eliminate this advantage. And would you like to guess which is far cheaper?
Can the data be stored more robustly if some storage capacity is given up?
No, but it could be more robust if you use the full ammount of storage AND PUT THE DAMN DISC IN A CADDY SO IT CAN'T POSSIBLY GET SCRATCHED TO BEGIN WITH.
Why do so many people look torwards redundancy when the problem is clearly an utter lack of any protection from the elements?
I can't tell the difference between 128kps and 192 when a quality mp3 encoder is used (eg the original Fraunhofer one).
The Fraunhofer codec is actually rather poor, especially when compared to modern ones like lame.
The fact that you can't tell the difference is quite likely a result of poor equipment. With a $10 soundcard, I can't tell the difference either, because so much of the frequency range is distorted. With a $25 SB Live card, and maybe some $30 Aiwa/Sony/Senheiser earbuds, I believe most anyone will be able to hear the difference...
Whether it's enough of a difference that they care is a different question all-together.
and [MP3 is] by far the most widely supported format, supported on almost everything. No free format comes anywhere near.
MP2, the predicessor to MP3, is superior to MP3 when you get to 160-192kbps, and any MP3 decoder inherent has to support MP2 decoding as well.
I've had no problems renaming mp2 files to.mp3, and having them play on every MP3 player I've tried. If there are any exceptions, and program than gives MP2 files an MP3 header could easily be written up, and I would suspect someone has likely done so already...
I can't really think of any other good ways to make the tripwire undetectable,
How about a $1 flywheel and spring mechanism, that would allow the tripwire to be slowly pulled down (or in any direction) by the silly string, without tripping the bomb, but would trigger if pulled at higher speeds?
Troops find this useful in detecting bombs, therefore it should be provided. Sure it's not to spec, but this is a quick and dirty fix, with the troops displaying admirable flexibility. That should be rewarded, not denigrated because the can isn't bullet proof, or some other such crap.
You're not looking at it properly. The Silly String company probably doesn't care if one in 100,000 cans shoots out string that is 2X as heavy as normal. However, in this use, that could get people killed.
There's good reason military specs are much higher than civilian-purposed goods. The milspecs are most certainly appropriate, although it shouldn't take very long.
I've found what when I'm working hard on a project and I approach it without a schedule, I end up working for a few extra hours without even noticing.
IMHO, working perhaps an extra hour every day would be worth it just to have flexible hours.
Just think about it... How much time do most people waste, going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, getting to work early and doing little or nothing, just to make sure they will be there before the clock hits:00? I'd say it's probably well more than an hour a day, for most people. And possibly worse for those who live in metro areas, where traffic can fluxuate significantly from day to day.
So what's the incentive for a consumer to buy the hybrid (at the same or potentially higher cost) when DVD players are more readily available (with even steeper cost decline curves)?
Because most DVD players people buy are from China. If the Chinese government mandates EVD, then instantly, most DVD players will be EVD players. They may be a couple dollars more than previous DVD-only players, but they'll still be the cheapest DVD players on the market.
It's more or less the same reason why every DVD player around has support for VCDs, and most support SVCDs as well.
China has enough numbers that if they wanted to direct the industry they could...however they are not thinking far enough ahead with this to set the standard.
They have the numbers, but they absolutely don't have the technical know-how. All they can do right now is repurpose the technology comming out of other countries, such as CDs and MPEG-2 to make the SVCD standard, or DVDs for EVD. Everything they've done on their own has been much worse than the competition in every way.
The pitch now is that EVD will not be an alternative to DVD but its successor - essentially it's been repositioned as an alternative to HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
You shouldn't be surprised by any of this. China is like the good old USSR, giving the pro-China view on things, no matter how completely it conflicts with reality.
Look for some older articles on AVS (the video codec used on EVD). You'll find numerous claims that it's superior to H.264 in quality/bitrate, while decoding with a fraction of the CPU power...
When they got around to releasing samples, everyone got to see that AVS was actually more CPU intensive than h.264, and the quality was (AT BEST) somewhat lower than even MPEG-2.
I wouldn't be surprised if the mentioned VMD format doesn't come out for the next 5 years, stores just a bit more than dual-layer DVDs, and costs many times more than Blu-Ray/HD-DVD to manufacturer.
I guess someone standing there with a rucksack full of explosives and going BOOM during a heavy traffic time, say the day before Thanksgiving, never occured to our overlords.
You'd probably kill more people if you walked in firing a handgun, than you would with a suitcase full of explosives.
Every airport I've been too has extremely high ceilings, wide-open spaces, etc. With that, a bomb-blast will likely exert most of it's energy upward and outward, leaving relatively few people seriously uninjured.
Why do you think suicide bombers prefer enclosed spaces like trains, buses, and airplanes, to open-air areas? You can do much more damage, with much less explosive there.
Chris Soghoian, the Indiana University PhD student who created an online boarding pass generator for Northwest Airlines to highlight security holes is on the government's 'no-fly' list.
Does NOBODY see the irony here?
The government is putting him on the No-Fly list, BECAUSE HE RELEASED A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO CIRCUMVENT THE NO-FLY LIST.
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Jewel case, no.
Caddy, YES.
Provided you aren't running it over with a car, or jabbing it with a large screwdriver, it'll hold up to most anything.
No, I'll suggest you stop whining about it, because it doesn't help, and just makes you an annoyance (nobody likes to hear other people complaining).
No. There is some degredation of the dye with exposure to light, but with a low-power reading laser, it's so extremely small as to be negligable.
There's much more energy in a few seconds of exposure to sunlight than in numerous full reads of a CD-R.
THEN STOP BUYING 5 CENT CDRs.
I have a handful of 12 year-old CD-Rs that are still working just fine today, and hundreds of discs that are just a couple years newer and only 1% have EVER developed read-errors, and then they were always recoverable and a new copy was quickly made (though I do have secondary backups anyhow).
Like what?
It's all well and good to say something has problems, but unless you've got something better to offer, it's just a lot of whining and complaining.
No. DVDs put the reflective "top" layer between two layers of plastic in the exact center of the disc, so you have to break it in half to even get to the reflective layer.
You're just using extremely cheap crap CD-Rs. If you spend a fraction more, you'll find all the better ones have a nice thick layer on top to protect the reflective layer.
There are two things, which I can't understand why nobody is doing yet.
First is ducting. I've done this myself in a very small server room. If you have a pair of ducts connected to the air intakes of each machine, and a couple connected to the output of the exhaust fans, you can keep a system significantly cooler, with significantly less cooling, since the cold and hot air is being forced to the exact spots where you need it, and not being allowed to mix AT ALL. For each system, you're only talking perhaps $2 in one-time additional expense per server, which quickly pays for itself.
The other obvious option is geothermal cooling systems. If you're located near a river, lake, pond, ocean, etc., it's really trivially easy, and practically free, to utilize that to dramatically lower the energy demands from cooling (or heating for that matter). And even if that's not the case, it doesn't cost all that much to have numerous geothermal lines run into the ground.
You can probably maintain most of the HVAC systems you already have, only replacing the condenser units to fit the change to geothermal.
So, if there's something wrong with this idea, spell it out. Why aren't datacenters already taking these simple steps?
No, but it could be more robust if you use the full ammount of storage AND PUT THE DAMN DISC IN A CADDY SO IT CAN'T POSSIBLY GET SCRATCHED TO BEGIN WITH.
Why do so many people look torwards redundancy when the problem is clearly an utter lack of any protection from the elements?
I knew I'd seen this ugly green text somewhere before, but couldn't place it...
Note to self: j00r0m4nc3r is the one. Kill him.
We make less than we used-to, but still significantly more than any other country in the world, by far.
Certainly not the only problem, but the schools are pretty broken.
That was supposed to be: "full-sized headphones/earbuds."
Listed companies make good quality versions of both for about that price range, and either should work fine.
The Fraunhofer codec is actually rather poor, especially when compared to modern ones like lame.
The fact that you can't tell the difference is quite likely a result of poor equipment. With a $10 soundcard, I can't tell the difference either, because so much of the frequency range is distorted. With a $25 SB Live card, and maybe some $30 Aiwa/Sony/Senheiser earbuds, I believe most anyone will be able to hear the difference...
Whether it's enough of a difference that they care is a different question all-together.
MP2, the predicessor to MP3, is superior to MP3 when you get to 160-192kbps, and any MP3 decoder inherent has to support MP2 decoding as well.
I've had no problems renaming mp2 files to
How about a $1 flywheel and spring mechanism, that would allow the tripwire to be slowly pulled down (or in any direction) by the silly string, without tripping the bomb, but would trigger if pulled at higher speeds?
You're not looking at it properly. The Silly String company probably doesn't care if one in 100,000 cans shoots out string that is 2X as heavy as normal. However, in this use, that could get people killed.
There's good reason military specs are much higher than civilian-purposed goods. The milspecs are most certainly appropriate, although it shouldn't take very long.
The parent didn't say "anticipate," he said "provide." Completely different tense.
The war has been going on since 2003, and no doubt they've been using silly string long before now.
IMHO, working perhaps an extra hour every day would be worth it just to have flexible hours.
Just think about it... How much time do most people waste, going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, getting to work early and doing little or nothing, just to make sure they will be there before the clock hits
Ever since they started exporting DVD players, and getting sued for unpaid fees.
Because most DVD players people buy are from China. If the Chinese government mandates EVD, then instantly, most DVD players will be EVD players. They may be a couple dollars more than previous DVD-only players, but they'll still be the cheapest DVD players on the market.
It's more or less the same reason why every DVD player around has support for VCDs, and most support SVCDs as well.
They have the numbers, but they absolutely don't have the technical know-how. All they can do right now is repurpose the technology comming out of other countries, such as CDs and MPEG-2 to make the SVCD standard, or DVDs for EVD. Everything they've done on their own has been much worse than the competition in every way.
You shouldn't be surprised by any of this. China is like the good old USSR, giving the pro-China view on things, no matter how completely it conflicts with reality.
Look for some older articles on AVS (the video codec used on EVD). You'll find numerous claims that it's superior to H.264 in quality/bitrate, while decoding with a fraction of the CPU power...
When they got around to releasing samples, everyone got to see that AVS was actually more CPU intensive than h.264, and the quality was (AT BEST) somewhat lower than even MPEG-2.
I wouldn't be surprised if the mentioned VMD format doesn't come out for the next 5 years, stores just a bit more than dual-layer DVDs, and costs many times more than Blu-Ray/HD-DVD to manufacturer.
You'd probably kill more people if you walked in firing a handgun, than you would with a suitcase full of explosives.
Every airport I've been too has extremely high ceilings, wide-open spaces, etc. With that, a bomb-blast will likely exert most of it's energy upward and outward, leaving relatively few people seriously uninjured.
Why do you think suicide bombers prefer enclosed spaces like trains, buses, and airplanes, to open-air areas? You can do much more damage, with much less explosive there.
Does NOBODY see the irony here?
The government is putting him on the No-Fly list, BECAUSE HE RELEASED A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO CIRCUMVENT THE NO-FLY LIST.
So this helps, how?
True for 2000 and previous versions, but as of XP/2003, you can disable swap completely without adverse side effects (if you have 512MBs or so).